6th CEO Summit slated for May 30

THE sixth edition of the Ghana CEO Summit has been slated for May 30, 2022 at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra.

The event, on the theme ‘Digital leadership for the digital economy: leading digital business & government transformation. A private-public sector CEO dialogue & learning’, will bring together about 500 topmost CEOs across the globe to share insights and help find solutions to issues in the economy.

At a press launch in Accra on May 18, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana CEO Summit and Network, Ernest De-Graft Eqyir, said the theme for this year’s summit was carefully chosen to reflect the need for digital leadership for businesses in furtherance of government’s agenda of creating a digital economy.

Digital leadership

He said the subject of digital leadership for a digital economy was an important one such that the summit would provide a platform for deliberation on the subject, with an aim of equipping business leaders with the skill and mindset needed to become digital leaders.

“In this era of digital transformation, business leaders must, as a matter of necessity, champion digital solutions to the challenges faced in their operations and ultimately, in the economy.

“The key to successful businesses and the transformation of the economy lies in digital leadership,” he said.

He said the 6th CEO Summit was committed to unlocking Ghana and West Africa’s economic potential by offering concrete, innovative and actionable solutions, championing private-sector-led growth, leading discussions around innovative public policies and best growth-oriented business practices to help the country move forward, build resilient companies and outstanding CEOs.

The event will also launch a Women CEO Leadership Network to enable women in leadership group, intellectual, financial and social capital to enhance their skills and capabilities.

The Country Manager for Deloitte Ghana, Daniel Owusu, advised businesses to build the needed digital skills to remain competitive and expand their businesses.

“To remain competitive in the digital era, business leaders across all industries must assess and build the digital capabilities needed to grow and exploit new business channels,” he said.

Keen on digitalisation

The Head of Communications at the GIPC, Charles Poku-Mensah, who represented the CEO of the GIPC, observed that the centre was keen about the theme of the event this year because it sought to foster economic development by leveraging digital technology.

He said Ghana had in recent years been keen on its digital transformation with initiatives such as digitalisation of port systems, the introduction of interoperability, digital address systems and most important the national identification system.

He said with these digital tools and infrastructure, the Ghanaian economy was gradually seeing improvements in the ease of doing business which was critical for every economy's development.

Pace of change

The Executive Director of the Margins Group, Frank Oye, said the rapid pace of change showed that digitalisation was a revolution and not an evolution.

He said many lacked the technical capacity and systems to exploit the opportunities presented by remote working, cloud systems, data capture and artificial intelligence which called for the need to have a digitalised leadership in order to evolve into a digitalised economy.

"Good leadership is the heartbeat of every revolution and for digital revolution, it is critical to our understanding and adoption of technologies designed to set us free from limits and organisational restrains," he said.

Speakers

The event is expected to be addressed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addision; the Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, and the CEO of Margins Group, Moses Baiden Jnr.

Others are the Executive Chairman of the KGL Group, Alex Apau Dadey; the CEO of GT Bank, Thomas Attah John; the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Mansa Nettey; the CEO of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Ammishadai Owusu-Amoah, and the CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai.G